What would you do

[Howard 50]

Last evening I got a call from a customer telling me that the cleaning solution I used to clean his house is killing his plants. Now I as well as others here have had that happen before so nothing new. Well in this case I washed his home the 23rd of March 25 days ago and he is just now calling me. Since I washed his home we have had freezing temps, warm-ups to the 70's 3/4 inches of heavy snow/rain and just this past weekend a noreaster that carried 60kt winds with over 3 to 6 inches of rain. Now he calls and says the plants around the house are dieing, but everything else in other parts of the yard are alright. I will be going to take a look at the plants in question but my thoughts are I had nothing to do with his plants dieing. Now for my cleaning mix, I've posted the receipt on here before but here it is again.

1.5 gal 12%

2 gal crita clean (from Sunbrite)

1/2 cup cascade

3/4 cup liquid tide (foaming)

1 cup jomax

1 cup liquid deck cleaner.

fill 5 gal container with warm water then downstream.

Not sure how to do this poll I checked the box but here are my thoughts.

1. Let him know how sorry I am his plants are dieing but I'm not responsible

2. Point out the elasped time since the wash (BPW not responsible)

3. extreme weather is responsible (BPW not responsible)

4. in interest of customer satisifaction offer partial refund to buy new plants.

5. Other

Thanks for giving me your thoughts on this.

[814jeffw 71]

If there are nearby neighbors check their plants. Can't imagine that mix is strong enough to cause plant damage. But I'd say if his plants in the "work zone" are the only ones that show to be dying and the others in the yard are fine and the neighbors' are fine then I'd say just replace the plants and move on. Just sitting here not knowing all the details and knowing how the weather has been here in Central Pa I'd say the weather extremes was to blame, was in the low twenties last week a couple of times here. Are there a lot of plants? Personally though I'd not offer money back, I'd offer to replace the plants, for one thing you don't want to cause someone a problem and then have them have to do the work to correct the problem. And two, you could probably give some money back and they'd let the plants the way they are.

Jeff

[Jeff 232]

Be nice and say not your fault. To many days and to many weather conditions. If he gets mad, you just wont have him as a customer possibly

[CDR17 14]

Sometimes chemicals just burn the leaves on the plants. Tell him to wait a couple of weeks and see if they sprout up. Can't tell if the chemicals you use are systematic meaning they attack the roots.

[scpressure 14]

I like the idea of checking on the neighbors plants. If the neighbors plant are in the same condition point it out. If not take the hit and buy some plants. You reputation is worth a lot more than the cost of the plants. On one day I burned three families flowers (the wand had a pin hole leak). I sent over a landscaper to replace anything they requested. It cost me about $300.00, but all three families were happy, the landscaper (a friend of mine) got a new customer and I learned a pin hole leak can be expensive.

Do you really need all the different ingredients in your mix?

[PressurePros 249]

Call a local landscaper and explain your dilemma. Ask him for his opinion. It doesn't hurt to have a relationship with a landscaper anyway. Everything up here is peril. It was warm, then cold, rained then it snowed. Many of my perenials are not in active bloom and they should be this time of year.

Thats a pretty complex housewash mix. I'm surprised you are able to kill mold with that low of a percentage of sodium hypochorite.

[Howard 50]

Just to update.

Went by and looked at the customers plants.

He had new spring growth coming out. Plants that were suppose to flower were doing so. New growth on the bushes. In short the only thing I saw was on the back side of some of the evergreen bushes (that never see sun against the deck) there was some browning. Told him I say nothing wrong he seemed to agree. However, I took loads of pictures just in case he tries to come back later in the srping/summer. Thanks everyone for your inputs.

Ken

Not too complex, it works for me down here. have no problem killing Mold/mildew. If the house has excessive mold build-up then I add more SH.